Getting rid of the Fcc: field, and other compose problems.

Getting rid of the Fcc: field, and other compose problems.

[G Philip]

Hi,

I am a new Gnus user. I have set up Gnus to work with Gmail using
offlineimap. Whenever I try to compose a message (or reply to a
message), I get the following problems:

1. The "Fcc:" field is populated with a non-existant directory, and I am
prompted whether I want to create this maildir. Since I don't want to
save a local copy of the sent message (because Gmail SMTP and IMAP will
get it for me anyway), I have to always say "no" before proceeding. This
is a nuisance when it happens every time.

2. The "From:" field is populated by a junk email id, constructed from
my username on the local machine and the local machine's hostname. I
have to edit this field also every time so that it is my proper email
address. 

  Since I use a couple of email addresses with my gmail account,
I have tried the following in my .gnus file to get this field to use the
"To:" address of the email to which I am replying:

;; Reply using the same address as to which the original was addressed. 
(setq message-alternative-emails
                (regexp-opt '("myfirstaddress@gmail.com" "myotheraddress@gmail.com")))


;; (setq gnus-posting-styles
       '(((header "to" "myfirstaddress@gmail.com")
          (address "myfirstaddress@gmail.com"))
         ((header "to" "myotheraddress@gmail.com")
          (address "myotheraddress@gmail.com"))))

But neither of these works.

Could you help me with these?

Thanks and regards,
Philip

Re: Getting rid of the Fcc: field, and other compose problems.

[Adam Sjøgren]

On Thu, 08 Sep 2011 14:59:36 +0530, G wrote:

> 1. The "Fcc:" field is populated with a non-existant directory, and I am
> prompted whether I want to create this maildir.

What have you done to get an Fcc: field? I don't think you get one by
default? (You probably get a Gcc: field for archiving sent messages,
though).

> 2. The "From:" field is populated by a junk email id, constructed from
> my username on the local machine and the local machine's hostname. I
> have to edit this field also every time so that it is my proper email
> address. 

Does it help to set the variables user-full-name and user-mail-address?

> ;; (setq gnus-posting-styles
>        '(((header "to" "myfirstaddress@gmail.com")
>           (address "myfirstaddress@gmail.com"))

I think you've got a level of parens too many there? (Comparing to the
example in the Posting Styles node in the manual¹)


  Best regards,

    Adam

¹ http://gnus.org/manual/gnus_154.html#SEC154

-- 
 "What do you feel                                            Adam Sjøgren
  When you let go of the wheel"                          asjo@koldfront.dk

Re: Getting rid of the Fcc: field, and other compose problems.

[gphilip]

Eric, Slackrat, Adam,

  Thanks to you all for your replies. The "From:" field problem has been
  solved (see the solution below), but the "Fcc:" field is stubborn and
  I have given in to its demand.

asjo@koldfront.dk (Adam Sjøgren) writes:

> On Thu, 08 Sep 2011 14:59:36 +0530, G wrote:
>
>> 1. The "Fcc:" field is populated with a non-existant directory, and I am
>> prompted whether I want to create this maildir.
>
> What have you done to get an Fcc: field? I don't think you get one by
> default? (You probably get a Gcc: field for archiving sent messages,
> though).

The sad thing is that I do not know :( . I finally caved in and said
"yes" to the question "Create the maildir?", because I wanted to send
mail using Gnus. Now a copy of each mail I send using Gnus is written to
this new maildir 'sent' folder.

>
>> 2. The "From:" field is populated by a junk email id, constructed from
>> my username on the local machine and the local machine's hostname. I
>> have to edit this field also every time so that it is my proper email
>> address. 
>
> Does it help to set the variables user-full-name and user-mail-address?
>

It helped to set these, but only as a static measure; these wouldn't
change depending on which mail I am replying to. 

>> ;; (setq gnus-posting-styles
>>        '(((header "to" "myfirstaddress@gmail.com")
>>           (address "myfirstaddress@gmail.com"))
>
> I think you've got a level of parens too many there? (Comparing to the
> example in the Posting Styles node in the manual)

No, the parens are OK here.

After a bit of digging around the manuals and the source code of
gnus/message.el, I tried a hunch, and it worked! Here is what works:


(setq gnus-posting-styles
        '(((header "to" "myfirstaddress@gmail.com")
           (From "myfirstaddress@gmail.com"))
          ((header "to" "myotheraddress@gmail.com")
           (From "myotheraddress@gmail.com"))))

That is, specifying "From" instead of "address" does the trick.

Thanks once again for your help. 

Regards,
Philip

Re: Getting rid of the Fcc: field, and other compose problems.

[Adam Sjøgren]

On Fri, 09 Sep 2011 00:26:54 +0530, gphilip@india.com wrote:

> asjo@koldfront.dk (Adam Sjøgren) writes:

>> On Thu, 08 Sep 2011 14:59:36 +0530, G wrote:

>>> 1. The "Fcc:" field is populated with a non-existant directory, and I am
>>> prompted whether I want to create this maildir.

>> What have you done to get an Fcc: field? I don't think you get one by
>> default? (You probably get a Gcc: field for archiving sent messages,
>> though).

> The sad thing is that I do not know :( .

Maybe you could try showing us what the exact value of the header is,
and what configuration you are using?

It might jig some hard to reach piece of memory...

>> Does it help to set the variables user-full-name and user-mail-address?

> It helped to set these, but only as a static measure; these wouldn't
> change depending on which mail I am replying to. 

No, how could they? :-)

>>> ;; (setq gnus-posting-styles
>>> '(((header "to" "myfirstaddress@gmail.com")
>>> (address "myfirstaddress@gmail.com"))

>> I think you've got a level of parens too many there? (Comparing to the
>> example in the Posting Styles node in the manual)

> No, the parens are OK here.

Really? I have one level less than you have in my posting styles; the
manual does as well.

> After a bit of digging around the manuals and the source code of
> gnus/message.el, I tried a hunch, and it worked! Here is what works:

> (setq gnus-posting-styles
>         '(((header "to" "myfirstaddress@gmail.com")
>            (From "myfirstaddress@gmail.com"))
>           ((header "to" "myotheraddress@gmail.com")
>            (From "myotheraddress@gmail.com"))))

> That is, specifying "From" instead of "address" does the trick.

I find that hard to believe, but, hey, if it works, it works.

("address" works just fine in my posting styles.)


  Best regards,

    Adam

-- 
 "What do you feel                                            Adam Sjøgren
  When you let go of the wheel"                          asjo@koldfront.dk

Re: Getting rid of the Fcc: field, and other compose problems.

[Richard Riley]

asjo@koldfront.dk (Adam Sjøgren) writes:

>
>> That is, specifying "From" instead of "address" does the trick.
>
> I find that hard to believe, but, hey, if it works, it works.
>
> ("address" works just fine in my posting styles.)
>
>   Best regards,
>

If From is not set I think it constructs it with user-full-name followed
by address. But it being gnus one is never quite sure ;)

Re: Getting rid of the Fcc: field, and other compose problems.

[G Philip]

Richard Riley <rileyrg@googlemail.com> writes:

> asjo@koldfront.dk (Adam Sjøgren) writes:
>
>>
>>> That is, specifying "From" instead of "address" does the trick.
>>
>> I find that hard to believe, but, hey, if it works, it works.
>>
>> ("address" works just fine in my posting styles.)
>>
>>   Best regards,
>>
>
> If From is not set I think it constructs it with user-full-name followed
> by address. But it being gnus one is never quite sure ;)

Hmm.. Now I am able to get it working by just using the "address"
option, just like in the manual. I am not sure what makes this work; I
tinkered with a lot of things for this. And I have given up hope on
getting the Fcc: field out in my lifetime :D .

I have the same problem with /forwarding/ mails even now, though :
pressing C-c C-f brings up a window with a junk From: address
(mylocalusername@mylocalmachinename.localdomain). gnus-posting-styles
apparently doesn't affect *forwarded* emails.

Also, when I want to forward an email, it starts with a *prodigious*
amount of headers from the previous email, and the real matter is a
couple of screens down. I have to clear all the headers before I send
the forward. How could I get rid of these?

Thanks a lot for your help.

Regards,
Philip

Re: Getting rid of the Fcc: field, and other compose problems.

[Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen]

G Philip <gphilip@india.com> writes:

> I have the same problem with /forwarding/ mails even now, though :
> pressing C-c C-f brings up a window with a junk From: address
> (mylocalusername@mylocalmachinename.localdomain). gnus-posting-styles
> apparently doesn't affect *forwarded* emails.

It should work the same way in any case.  Can other people reproduce
this bug?

> Also, when I want to forward an email, it starts with a *prodigious*
> amount of headers from the previous email, and the real matter is a
> couple of screens down. I have to clear all the headers before I send
> the forward. How could I get rid of these?

Edit the ones you don't want.

-- 
(domestic pets only, the antidote for overdose, milk.)
  bloggy blog http://lars.ingebrigtsen.no/

Re: Getting rid of the Fcc: field, and other compose problems.

[Nat Makarevitch]

Adam Sjøgren <asjo <at> koldfront.dk> writes:

> On Thu, 08 Sep 2011 14:59:36 +0530, G wrote:

Old one...

> > 1. The "Fcc:" field is populated with a non-existant directory, and I am
> > prompted whether I want to create this maildir.

Same problem here (Debian).  It was tied to "notmuch" and (setq notmuch-fcc-
dirs nil) fixed it.

Re: Getting rid of the Fcc: field, and other compose problems.

[Eric S Fraga]

G Philip <gphilip@india.com> writes:

> Hi,
>
> I am a new Gnus user. I have set up Gnus to work with Gmail using
> offlineimap. Whenever I try to compose a message (or reply to a
> message), I get the following problems:
>
> 1. The "Fcc:" field is populated with a non-existant directory, and I am
> prompted whether I want to create this maildir. Since I don't want to
> save a local copy of the sent message (because Gmail SMTP and IMAP will
> get it for me anyway), I have to always say "no" before proceeding. This
> is a nuisance when it happens every time.

I don't get anything in an FCC header field.  Maybe check out the values
of the gnus-archive-.* variables?  I don't believe the default is to
have anything defined for file copy so you must be setting something
yourself?

> 2. The "From:" field is populated by a junk email id, constructed from
> my username on the local machine and the local machine's hostname. I
> have to edit this field also every time so that it is my proper email
> address. 

I use:

    (setq gnus-posting-styles '((".*" (address "e.fraga@ucl.ac.uk"))))

much abridged... and also have

    (setq user-mail-address "e.fraga@ucl.ac.uk")

I'm not sure if both are needed; probably the first is the most
important for using gnus but much of this is a mystery to me!

HTH,
eric

-- 
: Eric S Fraga (GnuPG: 0xC89193D8FFFCF67D) in Emacs 24.0.50.1 + No Gnus v0.18